Monday, March 22, 2010

EVERY FIRST MONDAY

OF THE MONTH

8:30 - 10:30 in the PM

The Way Things Work

Readings operate on a first-come first-serve sign-up basis. Our time is limited so we’re looking for something in the ballpark of three poems of moderate length or one long poem and one short from each reader. You must however submit a piece to be read by the Designated Drunk, who will be chosen at the end of each reading or shortly after and will be informed well before the next reading. We encourage the buying of drinks for the Designated Drunk.

Make it good because submissions will be considered for publication on the blogs and anthologized in a chapbook published quarterly by Last Word Press. Since this event will, at least for the time-being, take place in our bookstore, and since we will be JUICING YA'LL UP WITH FREE WINE, (*ahem* sans banquet-license)... this has to be one of those official 'private party' sorts of deals... meaning we will at some point attempt to make a show of locking the door.

Statutes and Limitations:

This event is in a bar. You must be at least 21 to read. not currently in a bar, so come one, come all!

No nature poetry. It’s been done and there are a thousand other outlets for it in Olympia

No Slam. You’re not Saul Williams. That’s okay.

Drunken Poetry is not a public therapy session; don’t try to turn it in to one.

Unless it’s extremely well written we don’t care about that time you tried to kill yourself when you were sixteen. Try again.

Drink, write, edit, submit, read, drink, repeat.

And, conveniently enough, the poetry reading will stagger off stage just in time for everyone to stumble over to Jazz Night at the Royal to tie a few more on, moron!

Friday, March 12, 2010

Two comrades from Athens, Greece, will join a US anarchist to talk about the roots and current manifestations of the social insurrection that rocked Greece for three weeks in December 2008 and that continues to empower social struggles against the misery of state and capitalism. They will also talk about the histories and possibilities of struggle in other countries, to demystify insurrection and offer an empowering analysis for anarchists worldwide.

In January 1960 the San Francisco Examiner (a Hearst newspaper) offered Kenneth Rexroth a job writing a weekly column. He accepted. By May 1961 the column had proved popular enough that he was asked to do two and sometimes even three per week.

The association was an odd one. Although Rexroth was by that time a well-known figure in the Bay Area, he was known primarily as a political and cultural radical, and even (somewhat misleadingly) as “the godfather of the Beat Generation.” But he was willing to work for the Examiner as long as they gave him complete freedom to write whatever he wanted. They did so until June 1967, when they fired him after he wrote a particularly scathing article about the American police.

All told, Rexroth wrote approximately 700 columns for the Examiner. I am tentatively planning to post all of them fifty years after their original appearance. If all goes well and don’t get OD’d with the project, it will be completed on June 18, 2017.

Normally I plan to post each column on the exact 50th anniversary of its original appearance. This means that during the upcoming year you will find a new column here every Saturday. (Occasionally, depending on my schedule, I may post it a day or two ahead of time.)

Needless to say, the columns vary widely in topic and interest. Some offer incisive commentary that remains astonishingly relevant on all sorts of general issues, social, political, cultural, urbanistic or ecological. Others are more dated, such as reviews of particular musical or theatrical performances. I think you will find, however, that his remarks about even the most ephemeral topics are full of amusing observations and perceptive insights; and that the ensemble constitutes a unique and fascinating chronicle of those eventful years.

I have silently corrected obvious typos,added an occasional comma that seems to be necessary to make the sense clear, and taken the liberty of composing new titles (the original titles were composed by Examiner editors and often do not give a very good idea of what Rexroth is actually talking about).

this is one of the few e-mail newsletters we subscribe to, and it's well worth it:

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The Bureau of Public Secrets website features writings by Ken Knabb,Knabb's translations from the Situationist International, and the RexrothArchive (texts by and about the great writer and social critic KennethRexroth). Messages such as this are sent out every month or so announcing thelatest additions to the BPS website. If you do not wish to receive suchannouncements, please reply to this message with "NO THANKS" inthe subject line.***********************************************************